About this title: 'the most tragic of the poets' Aristotle Euripides was one of the most popular and controversial of all Greek tragedians, and his plays are marked by an independence of thought, ingenious dramatic devices, and a subtle variety of register and mood. He is also remarkable for the prominence he gave to female characters, whether heroines of virtue or vice. In the ethically shocking Medea, the first known child-killing mother in Greek myth to perform the deed in cold blood manipulates her world in order to wreak vengeance on her treacherous husband. Hippolytus sees Phaedra's confession of her ...
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Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1963
ISBN-13:9780140441291ISBN:0140441298
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Previous owners name inscribed inside front. -, Trade PaperBack, Very Good / read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Pub Date: 11/19/1998 Binding: Paperback Pages: 272. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1963
ISBN-13:9780140441291ISBN:0140441298
Description: Good. Book may have underlining, highlighting, or notes throughout All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"I liked MEDEA. I found it a bit dated but then you would, it's a text from Ancient Greece after all. It seems necessarily dramatic in detailing the tragedy that unfolds and makes for gripping reading at the climax. But I found it a bit... simple. The narrative is straightforward and there isn't much richness to be found here. Centuries of disaster, death and war have lessened the impact of the tragedy leaving this a readable oddity."
"Medea, by Euripides, was a fairly entertaining and extremely fast read. When I read these Greek tragedies and write about them, I always feel so silly because I go through the plays so quickly that it's as if I'm writing about a short story and not a full length play, so I don't have much to say.
I was discussing Greek tragedies in one of my classes when I realized that they do not act now as Aristotle proposed they did in ancient times. Aristotle maintained that tragedies created a feeling of catharsis: purging or purification. Basically some emotional response that stems from feeling pity toward either the chorus (people in general), the victims, or the protagonist (apparently the scholars don't agree quite on who you're suppose to feel sorry for). Yeah, well, the thing is, I definitely do not. For instance, in Medea, you're suppose to feel bad for her, because she did all this horrible stuff that alienated her from her people for Jason and then Jason betrayed her. And you're supposed to feel bad for Jason because his new bride and father-in-law and kids get murdered. (I can spoil the ending, because in Greek tragedy, it's never a surprise.) The plot is just so far fetched and distant that I just kind of sit back, amused at it all. Not that the concepts of jealousy and revenge don't move me, affect me, blah blah blah. It's just that they aren't presented in a way that gets to me. Catharsisizes me, if you will. Apparently my spell check won't; it didn't really like that.
So, in entertaining myself with the soap opera of Greeks, I was most amused by Euripides' portrayal of women. Women were definitely empowered through the role of Medea, an intelligent, strong-willed woman who did not let a cheating man get the best of her. Nevertheless, women, or at least women who do not submit to men, are portrayed as evil and malicious. It was really funny... I mean insulting...
There weren't any remarkably stunning jewels of wisdom, but I found some misogynistic quotes to laugh/cringe at:
"We were born women-useless for honest purposes, But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners" (Medea).
"...If women didn't exist, Human life would be rid of all its miseries" (Jason).
So, as I am an evil women, I feel the urge to quit with this review and go ruin someone's life. "Fate sends me as a curse" (Medea)."
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